Irfan Pathan once again pointed fingers at Hardik Pandya after Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Mumbai Indians by 24 runs in the Indian Premier League 2024. Chasing 170 runs to win for their fourth win in the 17th season, Mumbai were bowled out for 145 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav scored a fifty but he didn’t get support from other batters. Mitchell Starc was the standout bowler as he took 4 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Varun Chakravarthy took three wickets each, respectively.
Irfan blamed Hardik Pandya for Mumbai’s defeat. “Mumbai lost the match because Hardik once again failed to manage the team. KKR were 55/7 at one stage and Hardik gave the ball to Naman Dhir.
“Instead of bringing his main bowlers, Hardik went to a bowler, who doesn’t have experience. MI lost the contest when Pandya gave the ball to Naman. His three overs allowed Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey to add 83 runs.
“Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee were kept away from the attack, which was surprising,” Irfan Pathan said on Star Sports.
Former Mumbai player Harbhajan Singh also slammed Hardik. He said Pandya should have given more overs to specialist bowlers instead of Naman.